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maanantai 17. toukokuuta 2021

THE CONTROVERSY ON THE ORIGINS AND EARLY HISTORY OF THE HUNGARIANS

 

CONTENTS

Introduction

red-bullet.gif (163 bytes)I. The traditional account of Hungarian origins and early history according to ancient and medieval sources

red-bullet.gif (163 bytes)II. The Finno-Ugrian theory

red-bullet.gif (163 bytes)III. The Sumerian question

red-bullet.gif (163 bytes)IV. The Settlement of the Carpathian Basin and the Establishment of the Hungarian State by Arpad's Magyars

red-bullet.gif (163 bytes)Conclusion

red-bullet.gif (163 bytes)Notes

red-bullet.gif (163 bytes)Bibliography


INTRODUCTION

This study was first presented at the Canadian Hungarian Studies Association's 1996 annual conference, on the occasion of the 1100th anniversary of the foundation of the Hungarian State. It is essentially a summary overview of the principal theories in the research on the origins and early history of the Hungarians, with the objective of determining a scientifically acceptable alternative orientation in a field which has been dominated for the past 150 years by political and ideological interests. The purpose of this paper is therefore to outline a more objective perspective by examining the principal research orientations regarding the origins and early history of the Hungarians. The historical period in question covers the time span from the first Neolithic settlement of the Carpathian Basin (5000 BC) to the Christianization of Hungary nearly 1000 years ago.

What is it exactly that is being celebrated on the occasion of the 1100th anniversary of Hungary's founding in 896 AD? Is it Árpád's "pagan" Hungary or king István's (Stephen) Christian Hungary? Opinions differ greatly on this complex question. In general, contemporary Hungarian historiography seems to be concentrating more on the last 1000 years of Hungarian history from a predominantly Western point of view, thereby artificially restricting Hungarian history and isolating it from its pre-Christian historical and cultural roots which are often misrepresented or ignored. Hungarian history needs to be reassessed in a broader and more balanced perspective.

The principal opposing views are, on the one hand, the traditional account of Hungarian origins rooted in the pre-Christian era, which shows a remarkable degree of compatibility with the Sumerian-Hungarian relationship demonstrated by international orientalist research starting in the first half of the 19th c., and, on the other hand, the more recent Finno-Ugrian theory which was essentially the product of foreign regimes in Hungary: Habsburg in the 19th c., and communist in the 20th c. The traditional account of Hungarian origins states that the Magyars and the Huns were identical and traces their roots back to Ancient Mesopotamia. Sumerian-Hungarian ethno-linguistic research seems to confirm this. The Finno-Ugrian theory has sought to contradict the traditional account of Hungarian origins and the Sumerian-Hungarian relationship through a seemingly scientific linguistic approach. However, a more careful analysis of the facts reveals that the methodology of the Finno-Ugrian school is unscientific and that the motives of the Finno-Ugrian theory's promoters are political and ideological: their objective has been to weaken the Hungarian national identity by instilling a collective inferiority complex in order to weaken national resistance and to consolidate foreign rule in Hungary. The current "mainstream" Hungarian historiography adheres to the Finno-Ugrian orientation, promoting the view that the Hungarians were "primitive Asiatic latecomers and intruders" in the more "civilized" Europe. This official historical interpretation is therefore characterized by a dogmatic state of denial which deliberately ignores or dismisses the ancient Turanian origins of the Hungarians, the Sumerian-Scythian-Hun-Avar-Magyar identity and continuity, and the fundamental cultural, political and military Hungarian achievements of the millenia prior to 1000 AD which laid the foundations of the Hungarian state.

I. THE TRADITIONAL ACCOUNT OF HUNGARIAN ORIGINS AND EARLY HISTORY ACCORDING TO ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL SOURCES

The medieval Hungarian sources refer to the story of the Biblical Nimrod, son of Kush, and Eneth, whose two sons, Hunor and Magor, led the Huns and the Magyars from the regions neighbouring Persia to the land known as Scythia - a designation generally given to the region stretching from the Carpathians into Central Asia (1). From Scythia, first the Huns (5th c. AD), then Árpád's Magyars (895-896 AD) established themselves in the Carpathian Basin. It is also stated in these sources that Árpád was a descendent of Atilla, and that therefore, under Árpád's leadership, the Magyars reconquered Hungary as their rightful inheritance from their Hun forebears (2).

The contemporary Persian, Armenian, Arab, Greek, Russian and Western sources generally concur with the Caucasian-Caspian origin of the Magyars and with the Scythian-Hun-Avar-Magyar identity (3). It is also interesting to note that although the Byzantine sources generally referred to the Magyars as "Turks" (Turkoi), they also mention that by their own account, the Magyars' previously known name which they used themselves was, in Greek translation, "Sabartoi asphaloi" (4). This is extremely important because this name refers to the Sabir people, also known as the Subareans, who inhabited the land known by the Babylonians and Assyrians as Subartu which was situated in the Transcaucasian-Northern Mesopotamian-Western Iranian region (5). By their own account, the Sumerians of Southern Mesopotamia also came from this region which they referred to as Subir-Ki (6).

The Hun-Magyar relationship is also referred to in the recently published Hungarian translation of a Turkish version of the history of Hungary, (Tarihi Üngürüsz), based on an earlier Latin text lost during the Turkish wars (16th-17th c.). This source also mentions that when the Huns and the Magyars arrived in Hungary, they both found peoples already settled there who spoke the same language as themselves, thus lending support to the Hun-Magyar identity and extending the continuity of the Hungarian people in the Carpathian Basin further back in time (7).

The traditional account of Hungarian origins and early history was generally accepted until the middle of the 19th c. However, since then, the credibility of this account has been questioned. It was argued that the ancient and medieval sources did not stand up to modern "scientific method and evidence". Nevertheless, it should be taken into consideration that the medieval Hungarian chronicles were most likely based upon earlier sources which have been destroyed or lost during the forced Christianization of Hungary and during the subsequent foreign invasions, and that the stories told in the original sources, like many historical myths and legends transmitted by folklore, are often based on real historical facts.(Back)

II. THE FINNO-UGRIAN THEORY

The Finno-Ugrian theory's origins can be traced back to a book published in 1770 by a Hungarian Jesuit, János Sajnovics, in which he claimed that the Hungarian language is identical to that of the Lapps (8). This work had no immediate significant impact in Hungary, but it was followed up by mainly German linguists, among whom August von Schlözer played the leading role in the development of the Finno-Ugrian linguistic school (9). This school had a determining influence on the development of linguistic research in Hungary during the second half of the 19th c., where linguists of German origin also played a leading role (10). At that time, Hungary was ruled by the Habsburgs, and German influence was very strong in the political, economic, social, and cultural fields.

It is also important to note that the 19th c. saw the rise of modern nationalism throughout Europe, and that German nationalism was among the most chauvinistic. It was in this context that the idea of a superior Aryan race was conceived. Although the term "Aryan race" is no longer considered politically correct and has been replaced by the more scientifically-sounding "Indo-European" term, the fundamental assumption of this ethno-linguistic group's cultural pre-eminence is still being maintained today (11). Just as the proponents of this theory sought to prove their claims of Indo-European (Aryan) cultural superiority, they also sought to prove that, conversely, non-Indo-Europeans were culturally inferior. The Finno-Ugrian theory was therefore promoted in this ideologically biased context (12).

Following the defeat of the Hungarian War of Independence of 1848-49, the repressive Habsburg regime took over the Hungarian academic institutions and imposed the exclusive research orientation of the Finno-Ugrian theory about the origin of the Hungarians (13). Thus, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences became an instrument of the Habsburg regime's cultural policy of Germanization, which sought to weaken the Hungarian national identity - thereby facilitating foreign domination - through the distortion and falsification of information relating to the origin, history, culture, and language of the Hungarians, censoring and prohibiting any publication or research which did not conform to the officially imposed Finno-Ugrian theory. This was also the case under the Hungarian Communist regime which also pursued an anti-Hungarian policy with the objective of Russification. It was therefore in the interest of these regimes to "let the conquered Hungarians believe that they have an ancestry more primitive than that of the Indo-European peoples. In Habsburg times Hungarian children were taught that most of their civilization came from the Germans: today they are taught that their 'barbaric' ancestors were civilized by the educated Slavs" (14).

The Finno-Ugrian theory proved to be most suitable for this purpose. This theory claims that the Hungarians originated from primitive Siberian hunter-gatherer nomads who wandered Westward and who acquired a higher culture upon coming into contact with Indo-Europeans and other peoples (15). This theory has been increasingly brought under criticism by dissident and exiled Hungarian researchers because of its negative portrayal of the Hungarians in relation to their neighbours, because of the historical and political circumstances under which this theory has been imposed and perpetuated, and because this theory fails to take into consideration a substantial amount of scientific data which contradicts it (16). It should also be noted that according to the scientific review "Nature" (20/02/92), the quality of the research conducted at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences is rather poor, and this also seems to apply to the Finno-Ugrian research orientation.

The Finno-Ugrian theory is based on the hypothetical family-tree model and chronology of the Indo-European ethno-linguistic group's evolution (17). The family-tree model assumes that the members of a defined ethno-linguistic group originated from a common ancestral people which spoke a common ancestral language and lived in a common ancestral homeland from which various groups migrated to form the distinct branches of an ethno-linguistic family. Thus, the Finno-Ugrian theory states that the Finno-Ugrian group separated from the ancestral Uralic group between 5000 and 4000 BC; between 3000 and 2000 BC the Finnic and Ugrian branches separated, and around 1000 BC the "proto-Hungarians" separated from the "Ob-Ugrians" and migrated Westward (18). However, the validity of this monolithic family-tree model has been increasingly questioned by several researchers, including some Indo-European scholars (19).

Although this hypothetical process was supposed to have taken place in the Ural region, the exact location of the various "ancestral homelands" occupied by the various branches and the chronology of these events are still subject to various interpretations as there is no unanimous agreement among Finno-Ugrian scholars themselves (20). The significant degree of uncertainty and confusion which still exists within this field of research is due to the fact that the Finno-Ugrian theory is essentially based on linguistic speculation which is not supported by any conclusive archeological, anthropological and historical evidence (21). In fact, most of the available evidence seems to contradict the Finno-Ugrian theory, and furthermore, serious reservations have been raised concerning some of its linguistic arguments (22). Several researchers have also pointed out that the Finno-Ugrian theory contains serious methodological inconsistencies and errors, that the term "Finno-Ugrian" itself is arbitrary and unscientific, and that the inclusion of Hungarian in the Uralic group is artificial and without adequate scientific basis (23).

It is not the apparent linguistic similarities between the Hungarian and the Uralic languages which are in question, but the nature and degree of the relationship between the two groups. The Finno-Ugrian theory's assumption that the Hungarians are directly descended from the "Finno-Ugrians" and that the Uralic peoples are the only ethno-linguistic relatives of the Hungarians seems to be fundamentally flawed: a specific linguistic relationship does not necessarily correspond to a genetic relationship, nor can it exclude relationships with other ethnic groups. The Finno-Ugrian theory rejects the possibility that the Uralic group may somehow be related to other ethno-linguistic groups such as the Altaic group (24), perhaps partly because the first major challenge to the Finno-Ugrian theory came from advocates of the theory that the Hungarians were of Turkic origin, based on the numerous and significant observable linguistic, cultural and anthropological similarities between the Hungarian and Turkic peoples, as well as on historical evidence (25).

In fact, comparative linguistic analysis has shown that there are many similarities between Hungarian and several other major Eurasian ethno-linguistic groups, and although the Finno-Ugrian theory claims that these similarities are the results of borrowings on the part of the Hungarians (26), it nevertheless appears that the Finno-Ugrian theory requires a fundamental revision concerning the relationship between the Hungarians and the Uralic group, as well as their relationship to other ethno-linguistic groups. An alternative explanation for the existing linguistic relationship between Hungarian and other languages, including the Uralic and Altaic languages, is provided by the Sumerian ethno-linguistic and cultural diffusion theory, according to which the Eurasian ethno-linguistic groups were formed under the dominant cultural and linguistic influence of the Sumerian-related peoples originating from the Near East and which have progressively spread throughout Eurasia during several millenia since the Neolithic period (5000 BC). (Back)

III. THE SUMERIAN QUESTION

After British, French and German archeologists and linguists discovered and deciphered the oldest known written records in Mesopotamia and its neighbouring regions during the first half of the 19th c., they came to the conclusion that the language of those ancient inscriptions was neither Indo-European nor Semitic, but an agglutinative language which demonstrated significant similarities with the group of agglutinative languages known at the time as the Turanian ethno-linguistic group which included Hungarian, Turkic, Mongolian and Finnic (later referred to as the Ural-Altaic group) (27).

The recognition and acceptance of the Sumerian-Turanian ethno-linguistic relationship grew significantly in international orientalist circles until the 1870's (28). However, two factors hampered the further progress of research in this field. First, in Hungary, as a result of the imposition of the Finno-Ugrian theory as official doctrine following the 1848-49 War of Independence, all research concerning the Sumerian question was discouraged and this official attitude still prevails today in Hungary (29).

The second factor which had a considerable impact on the international level was the promotion of the theory that the Sumerians had never existed and that their language was invented by the Semitic priests of Babylonia as a means of secret communication (30). This theory was devised by J. Halevy, a rabbi from Bucharest who had obtained a position at the Sorbonne. This radical theory, despite its numerous flaws and obvious ideological motive, had a divisive effect among orientalists and broke the momentum gained by the advocates of the Sumerian-Turanian relationship. Since then, the Sumerian question seems to have been relegated to a minor status and passed under silence, the Sumerians having been generally dismissed as an isolated ethno-linguistic group of unknown origin having no known affinities with modern ethno-linguistic groups (31).

The silence was broken after WWII by Hungarian expatriates in the West who rediscovered the Sumerian question as they were able to gain access to the original Western sources of documentation on the Sumerians. These Hungarian researchers accumulated a considerable amount of evidence in support of the theory that the Sumerian and Hungarian languages are related. The reaction from official academic circles in Communist Hungary was that of categorical dismissal and discrediting of the Hungarian expatriate researchers, claiming that they were not competent in the field of Sumerology and that they were ideologically motivated. However, to this day, no conclusive evidence has been provided by official Hungarian academic circles to prove their claims regarding the Sumerian question and the origin of the Hungarians, as they simply refuse to examine the question in an open, rational and scientific manner. This attitude seems to be ideologically motivated (32).

The principal arguments against the Sumerian-Hungarian relationship appear to be unfounded: first, the apparent ambiguity arising from the polyphonic and polysemantic character of Mesopotamian cuneiform written symbols, which would render uncertain the decipherment of the ancient texts and the identification of their language. This apparent confusion is the result of the fact that the Semitic peoples which settled in Sumerian Mesopotamia (from 2340 BC) adopted the Sumerian writing system, but re-assigned new phonetic and semantic values to the Sumerian cuneiform characters (33). This was clearly shown by the multilingual inscriptions which included syllabaries and dictionaries explaining the Sumerian and Semitic phonetic and semantic values of the characters (34).

Also, the intermingling of the Sumerian and Semitic populations of Mesopotamia was reflected in the evolution of the Sumerian language (35). However, it would be misleading to compare the resultant hybridized Mesopotamian dialects to the Hungarian language since this would apparently weaken the Sumerian-Hungarian linguistic correlation. Thus, it should be taken into account that the Sumerians had existed in Mesopotamia for several thousand years prior to the arrival of the Semitic peoples, and that during this period, several regional dialects had evolved (36). Another factor which should be considered by linguists is the fact that the Hungarian language has been somewhat modified since the 19th c., and that as a result, some of the more archaic forms of Hungarian which have shown a definite relationship to Sumerian are no longer used in modern Hungarian. It seems therefore that in order to obtain more accurate results in comparative Hungarian-Sumerian linguistic analysis, it is the most archaic forms of these two languages which should be compared.

The principal results of the research conducted so far on the Sumerian-Hungarian relationship have indicated that these languages have over a thousand common word roots and a very similar grammatical structure (37). In his Sumerian Etymological Dictionary and Comparative Grammar, Kálmán Gosztony, professor of Sumerian philology at the Sorbonne, demonstrated that the grammatical structure of the Hungarian language is the closest to that of the Sumerian language: out of the 53 characteristics of Sumerian grammar, there are 51 matching characteristics in the Hungarian language, 29 in the Turkic languages, 24 in the Caucasian languages, 21 in the Uralic languages, 5 in the Semitic languages, and 4 in the Indo-European languages.

The linguistic similarities between Sumerian, Hungarian and other languages are corroborated by the archeological and anthropological data discovered so far. These archeological finds indicate that the Sumerians were the first settlers of Southern Mesopotamia (5000 BC), where they had come from the mountainous regions to the North and East with their knowledge of agriculture and metallurgy, and where they built the first cities. Increased food production through the use of irrigation allowed an unprecedented population increase, resulting in successive migratory waves which can be traced archeologically and anthropologically throughout Eurasia and North Africa (38). Thus, from the evidence left by this process of colonization, it appears that the Sumerian city-states were able to exert a preponderant economic, cultural, linguistic and ethnic influence during several thousand years not only in Mesopotamia and the rest of the Near East, but also beyond, in the Mediterranean Basin, in the Danubian Basin, in the regions North of the Caucasus and of the Black Sea, in the Caspian-Aral, Volga-Ural, and Altai regions, as well as in Iran and India. It seems therefore that the Sumerians and their civilization had a determining influence not only on later Near-Eastern civilizations, but also on the Mediterranean, Indian, and even Chinese civilizations, as well as on the formation of the various Eurasian ethno-linguistic groups (39).

One of the most comprehensive studies examining this complex question is László Götz's 5-volume 1100-page research work entitled "Keleten Kél a Nap" (The Sun rises in the East), for which the author consulted over 500 bibliographical sources from among the most authoritative experts in the fields of ancient history, archeology, and linguistics. In his wide-ranging study, László Götz examined the development of the Sumerian civilization, the determining cultural and ethno-linguistic influence of the Near-Eastern Neolithic, Copper and Bronze Age civilizations upon the cultural development of Western Eurasia, and the linguistic parallels between the Indo-European, Semitic and Sumerian languages indicating that the Sumerian language had a considerable impact on the development of the Indo-European and Semitic languages which have numerous words of Sumerian origin. László Götz also examined the fundamental methodological shortcomings of Indo-European and Finno-Ugrian ethno-linguistic research. His conclusion is that most Eurasian ethno-linguistic groups are related to one another in varying degrees, and that these groups, such as the Indo-European, Uralic and Altaic groups, were formed in a complex process of multiple ethno-linguistic hybridization in which Sumerian-related peoples (Subareans, Hurrians, Kassites, Elamites, Chaldeans, Medes, Parthians) played a fundamental role. Other researchers seem to have come to similar conclusions:

"The Indo-Europeanization of Europe did not mean total destruction of the previous cultural achievement but consistedin an amalgamation (hybridization) of racial and cultural phenomena. Linguistically, the process may (and must) be regarded in a similar way: the Indo-Europeans imposed an idiom which itself then adopted certain elements from the autochtonous languages spoken previously. These non-Indo-European (pre-I-E) elements are numerous in Greek, Latin, and arguably, Thracian... the Thracians were highly conservative in their idea of urbanism; their language reflects this reality in terms (words, place-names) the origin of which can be traced back to the idioms spoken in the Neolithic (pre-I-E) times... The Romanian name for Transylvania, Ardeal, is one of the clearest pre-I-E relics... place-names are of great importance in the reconstruction of vanished civilizations and it is almost inevitable that the identifiable pre-I-E elements come down from the Neolithic times: the dawn of the European civilization... the terms implying complex societies are of pre-Indo-European origin." (40)

Thus, it appears that the ancient pre-Indo-European peoples which settled in Europe were, for the most part, of Sumerian-related Near Eastern origins, and were later designated as the pre-Hellenic Aegean peoples, the Thracians, the Dacians, the Illyrians, the Etruscans, the Iberians, the Cimmerians and the Sarmatians. These peoples laid the foundations of European civilization and later intermingled with various other peoples to form the ethnic groups which are currently referred to as "Indo-European". There are, however, certain ethno-linguistic groups which have withstood this process of "Indo-Europeanization", and which have therefore preserved their non-Indo-European identity, such as the Basques, the Finnic peoples, and the Carpathian basin's indigenous population (the Neolithic, Copper and Bronze Age settlers) (41). The archeological and anthropological finds of the Carpathian Basin indicate that this indigenous population was related to, and at least in part originated from the ancient pre-Semitic Near-Eastern cultures (42). The same seems to apply to the Scythian, Hun, Avar, Magyar, Khazar (Sabir), Bulgar, Cuman and Petcheneg peoples of Eastern Europe and Central Asia which settled in Central Europe, including the Carpathian Basin.(Back)

IV. THE MAGYAR CONQUEST OF THE CARPATHIAN BASIN AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HUNGARIAN STATE BY ÁRPÁD

The different views of the facts relating to the Magyar conquest and settlement of the Carpathian Basin and to the foundation of the Hungarian state are highly polarized between non-Hungarians and Hungarians, as well as among Hungarians themselves. The opposing views manifest themselves around the questions of the cultural level of the Magyar tribes, the circumstances of their arrival in the Carpathian Basin, the ethnic identity of the previously settled inhabitants of that region, and the role of Western political and religious influence in the formation of the Hungarian state.

Whereas the mainstream claims that the Magyar tribes were "primitive Asiatic barbarians" swept Westward by a great migratory wave and which were forced to settle in the Carpathian Basin as their "plundering raids" against the West were halted by "superior force", following which their cultural level was "somewhat raised" by the "beneficial influence" of "European civilization", the opposing traditionalist view holds that the Magyars had in fact a highly developed material and spiritual culture, and a well organized society, that their settlement of the Carpathian Basin was a skillfully planned and executed military and political undertaking, that their military campaigns against the West had a well defined strategic objective, and that the West did not have the political-ideological cohesion necessary to destroy the Hungarians.

Another contentious issue is that of the ethnic identity of the populations which inhabited the Carpathian Basin at the time of the Magyar Conquest. One side claims that this region was already inhabited by Slavic, "Daco-Roman", Germanic and other non-Hungarian peoples which were oppressed by the "invading" Magyars. The opposing view argues that the majority of the population already established in the Carpathian Basin was in fact ethnically related to the Magyars, and that today's Hungarians are an amalgamation of these peoples whose settlement of the Carpathian Basin preceded that of the non-Hungarian ethnic groups currently settled there.

An increasingly divisive issue among Hungarians is that of the role of Western political and religious influence in the formation of the Hungarian state. One side claims that the adoption of the European feudal political system and of Western Christianism resulting in Hungary's integration to the West was of "great cultural benefit" and represented a "higher level of civilization" compared to the previous tribal federation of the "pagan" Magyars. The opposing view holds that the forced integration to the West had highly detrimental consequences for Hungary, and that the imposition of Christianism and of the feudal system served foreign interests hostile to Hungary. This view also holds that Árpád was the founder of the Hungarian state, and not king István who is seen as the instrument of a foreign-backed coup which led to a radical change in the political and ideological orientation of Hungary.

The conflicting interpretations of the events leading up to and following the Magyar settlement of the Carpathian Basin in 895-896 AD indicate the necessity of re-examining the established official version. The generally propagated version of the events surrounding the Magyar settlement states that after having been subjects of the Khazar empire, the Magyar tribes were forced to flee Westward due to their defeat by the advancing Petchenegs (43), thus arriving in the Carpathian Basin where they subjugated the already established populations which were supposedly Indo-European (44). After the conquest, the Magyar tribes conducted raids against Western Europe which were stopped as a result of their defeat by the Germans in 955, following which the Magyars remained in Hungary and were converted to Western Christianism.

This version of events has been propagated by the official Hungarian historiography under foreign regimes - Habsburg and communist - as well as by the anti-Hungarian propaganda of the late 19th and early 20th c. disseminated by Hungary's neighbours. The resulting highly distorted image of the Hungarians is the product of the traditional Eurocentric bias which considers everything of Asiatic origin to be primitive and barbarian in comparison to what is referred to as "Western Civilization", and of the retro-projection of the current ethnic composition of the Carpathian Basin and of Hungary's current political status as a relatively small and weak country back to the period of the Hungarian settlement.

In his book entitled "Dentumagyaria", Viktor Padányi expertly exposed these prejudices and biases inherent in Western historiography which seem to have had a dominant influence on modern Hungarian historiography as well. An unbiased re-evaluation of the historical evidence seems to suggest quite a different picture. In the centuries preceeding their settlement of the Carpathian Basin, the Magyars inhabited the regions North of the Caucasus and of the Black Sea, but they were not subjects of the Khazar empire which collapsed as a result of internal religious strife (9th c. AD), following which some rebel tribes joined the Magyars (45). At that time the Petchenegs moved Westward and raided some Eastern Magyar outposts in Etelköz, the region between the Carpathians and the Don river, but this was not the reason for the Magyars' move Westward (46). Based on the known evidence, it seems that the Magyars had been planning to occupy the Carpathian Basin independently of the Petcheneg raids which had no significant impact on the subsequent events.

In Etelköz, the Magyars and other Hunnic tribes formed a tribal federation under the leadership of the Magyar tribe. This was sealed by the Covenant of Blood which declared that:

- the rulers of the tribal federation will be chosen from the leading clan of the Magyar tribe;

- all goods acquired by common effort will be shared;

- all clan leaders have the right to freely elect the ruler and to be included in the ruler's council;

- those who transgress their loyalty to the ruler or who create discord within the ruling clan will be punished by death;

- the ruler which breaks this covenant will be forever banished (47).

This covenant created the Magyar nation and it was in effect a constitution which provided for a democratic order and for the safeguarding of the nation's interests from internal and external threats (48).

It was also from Etelköz that the Magyar tribal federation successfully executed the conquest of the Carpathian Basin in a series of carefully planned diplomatic and military maneuvres. The objective of these maneuvres was to expel the powers which had occupied the Carpathian Basin following the collapse of the Avar empire (ca. 800 AD) - namely the Bulgars from the Southeast, and the Frankish empire from the West - and to secure the region from further external threats (49). With the successful completion of the settlement of the Carpathian Basin, Árpád and the other Magyar leaders held their first assembly at Pusztaszer, thus effectively establishing the Hungarian state on a firm constitutional basis (50).

It is important to realize the great significance and strong link between these successive events: the Covenant of Blood of Etelköz, the Conquest and Settlement of the Carpathian Basin, the First Constitutional Assembly of Pusztaszer, and the military campaigns in Europe following the settlement. These acts laid the foundation for a Hungary which was internally stable and externally secure in its status as a major power. These events should also be considered in the context of the Hun-Magyar identity and continuity: in such a perspective the Magyars, who were geographically, politically, and culturally a constituent element of the Hun and Avar Empires of the 4th-8th centuries, effectively re-established these state-formations within the Carpathian Basin. Thus the origins of the Hungarian state reach back over 1500 years to the Hun Empire which established its centre of power in the Carpathian Basin in the 5th c. and which thereby realized the first political unification of that region. The concept of this Hun legacy was an integral part of the foundation of the Hungarian state by the Magyar Conquest of 895-896.

At the time of the Magyar settlement, the bulk of the Carpathian Basin's population was made up by the remaining Avars, Huns, and other previously settled non-Indo-European peoples (51). The archeological and anthropological data shows that beneath the apparent constant discontinuity due to foreign invasions, there seems to be a fundamental similarity and continuity of non-Indo-European peoples in the Carpathian Basin going back to the Neolithic period (52). Gyula László also pointed out the Avar-Magyar ethnic continuity in his book "Kettös honfoglalás", in which he referred to the anthropological evidence indicating that there was a considerable Avar population in the Carpathian Basin at the time of the Magyar settlement, and that the Avars and the Magyars were anthropologically identical. Taking this into consideration with the accounts of contemporary Byzantine documents according to which the Avars spoke the same language as the Huns (53), the Hun-Avar-Magyar ethno-linguistic identity seems highly probable.

Having secured the Carpathian Basin, the Magyars had to face two major powers which represented a threat: the Germans, and to a lesser extent, Byzantium. The Magyars concentrated mainly on preventing the formation of a united and powerful German empire by supporting those smaller powers which were opposed to the centralizing German imperial ambitions and by retaliating against those which yielded to it, thus creating a balance of power in Europe (54). A secondary objective of these military operations was the recovery of the Avar treasures which had been taken by Charlemagne's armies during their campaigns against the Avars (55). Most of these military operations were successful until the serious setback in 955 in Bavaria, a setback where the Magyars were not defeated in battle but were slaughtered by the Germans after having laid down their weapons believing in the German peace offer (56). Although Western and official Hungarian historiography generally tend to attach great importance to this event, its significance seems to have been exaggerated, as it did not destroy Hungary's major power status, nor did it stop the Hungarian military strikes (this is closely paralleled by the assertion that Atilla was defeated at the Catalaunic fields in 451, even though the following year he was able to reach Rome with his armies). The Hungarian military strikes did stop eventually, but for other reasons. It seems that the Germans gave up the idea of conquering Hungary by direct military means as Hungary was too strong for this at the time, and it appears that other means were used.

The political and ideological orientation of the Hungarian leader at that time, Géza (late 10th c.), seems to have been decisively influenced by interdynastic marriages, as a result of which Géza and his son Vajk (later István) took or were given foreign wives who then used their position to promote foreign political and ideological interests in Hungary (57). Contemporary accounts state that Géza effectively relinquished his authority to his foreign wife and allowed his son Vajk to be brought up in the Western Christian faith (58).

When 10 000 German soldiers were sent to Hungary with the aim of installing István as the new ruler of Hungary, it wasn't surprising that this did not meet with everyone's approval. István needed foreign backing for his takeover bid as he lacked sufficient domestic support for his claim to power. The traditional Hungarian custom granted the right of succession to the most senior able-bodied member of the ruling dynasty, and in this case, Koppány, Istvan's cousin, was the designated rightful heir (59). The traditionalist Hungarian forces led by Koppány were opposed to István's accession to power and to his plans to Christianize the country, as they justifiably saw in him the manipulative work of foreign interests which sought to disguise their objective of political takeover of Hungary with the propagation of their Western Christian faith (it was standard practice at the time to use religion as a hegemonistic political instrument). The subsequent events largely confirmed this, as foreign influence was able to create and exploit a rift within the ruling Hungarian dynasty. As a result, the Hungarian court became replete with foreign advisors who wielded considerable power and represented foreign interests (60). Thus, István's breaking of ancient Hungarian tradition and of the Covenant of Blood with foreign collaboration seems to have been a fundamental cause of the deep and long-lasting internal divisions and strife among Hungarians and of their subjugation to foreign interests which have lasted to the present day (61).

The issue of the conversion of Hungary to the Western Christian faith is a highly controversial one as it was accom-plished by force against the will of the people and with the destruction of ancient Hungarian culture, including the Hungarian religion and runic scripts - thus causing incalculable and irre-parable cultural losses (62). It has often been argued that the Christianization of Hungary and its integration to the West were not only of great cultural benefit to the Hungarians, but that they could not have survived otherwise (63). These ideologically moti-vated claims seem unfounded when confronted with the known facts. It is not without reason that the European Middle Ages are referred to as the dark ages. This term refers to the general cultural state of Europe after the fall of the Roman empire: decaying infrastruc-ture and economy, political and legal anarchy, poor living standard of the general population (lack of adequate shelter, food, clothing, health, hygene, education and personal security). It was in this context that the Church of Rome became a powerful factor with its own ambitions of absolute spiritual, cultural and political control and supremacy over the then known world.

In contrast to the general cultural state of Europe at the time of the Hungarian settlement, the archeological data and written historical sources indicate that the Hungarians had a considerably more developed culture (64): they were quite familiar with agriculture even before settling in the Carpathian Basin where they were capable of establishing a state 1100 years ago. The Hungarians had their own writing system, the runic script, and a rich cultural life with their own religion which wasn't some form of primitive shamanism, but the Magian religion in which all the forces of nature, the various elements, and the heavenly bodies were worshipped as manifestations of a single creative force (65) -in essence monotheism, but without the intolerant, exclusive, dogmatic and irrational character of the other Near-Eastern religions. At that time, Hungarian society was more tolerant and free than its feudal Christian European counterpart (66). This tolerance was manifested towards other religions and by the lack of any form of racial, linguistic, or cultural discrimination as the concept of Hungarian nationality was not exclusive but open to individuals and tribes regardless of ethnic origin, and there was no forced assimilation. All members of the Hungarian nation enjoyed equal rights under a tribal system which was more democratic than the feudal system of Western Europe (67). Hungarian craftsmanship in all types of materials was remarkably more advanced from a technical and artistic point of view, just as Hungarian horsemanship, weaponry and military tactics were more than a match for the Europeans (68). Hungarian medical knowledge and personal hygene were also more developed than those of Medieval Europe (69), and the social behaviour and moral standards (code of honor) were also considerably different (70).

It is difficult to imagine what benefit Hungary could have possibly derived at that time from the conversion to Western Christianity and from the adoption of the European feudal system. An unbiased consideration of the facts leads to the conclusion that the drastic changes imposed upon Hungary by external coercion nearly 1000 years ago had a detrimental effect on Hungary's cultural, social, economic, political and demographic development, as a foreign feudal political and religious elite sought to subjugate and exploit the Hungarians, relegating them to the slave-like conditions of feudal serfdom, with Western Christianism as the legitimizing ideology. The nearly ten centuries of Christian feudal regime saw the continuous decline of the power and wealth of Hungary, a trend which was interrupted only by a few relatively brief periods of internal peace and prosperity which proved to be the exception to the general political instability, social fragmentation, impoverishment and decimation of the population, erosion of the Hungarian language and culture, and subordination of Hungarian policy-making to foreign interests which have characterized Hungarian history since the imposition of that regime. The assertion that the Hungarians had to integrate to the West because otherwise the West would have annihilated them, and that therefore the Hungarians owe their survival over the past 1000 years to their adhesion to the West seems to be a misrepresentation of the facts. Even after the imposition of Western Christianism, which was far from having been unopposed, rapid and complete, the Hungarians were repeatedly forced to repel armed aggression from the West - and they were successful in doing so (71). The fact that Hungary was able to remain a major power for several centuries was less due to its Christianization and feudalization and more to the factors which had made it a major power before its Westernization -and the same would seem to apply to Hungary's cultural achievements for which undue credit has been given to Western cultural influence (72).(Back)

CONCLUSION

It appears therefore that a fundamental revision of early Hungarian history is necessary in order to arrive at a more accurate picture, and much research work remains to be done in this field. Based on the available information, it seems most probable that the Hungarians are a synthesis of the peoples which have settled in the Carpathian Basin since the Neolithic period up to the Middle Ages: the Sumerian-related peoples of Near-Eastern origin (Neolithic, Copper and Bronze Ages), followed by the Scythians (6th c. BC), the Huns (5th c. AD), the Avars (6th c.), the Magyars (9th c.), the Petchenegs (11th c.), and the Cumans (13th c.). This Hungarian synthesis is characterized by a remarkable ethno-linguistic homogeneity and has remained highly differentiated from the considerably more numerous surrounding Indo-European peoples. The conclusion which can be drawn from this is that the Hungarians were able to preserve their ethno-linguistic identity and to maintain a demographic majority or critical mass within the Carpathian Basin as a result of the periodical inflow of ethno-linguistically related peoples. These peoples were designated in the 19th c. as Turanians, and the Sumerians, Scythians, Huns, Avars and Magyars were all considered to belong to this ethno-linguistic group.

Presently there are still many misconceptions concerning the Turanian peoples: it is still widely believed, erroneously, that the Scythians were an Indo-European people, that the Huns and Avars were Turkic-speaking peoples of Mongolian race or origin, and that the Magyars were a mixture of Finnic and Turkic elements. These misconceptions originate from an inaccurate historical perspective which failed to recognize the existence of a distinct Turanian entity amidst the multi-ethnic conglomerates of the Scythians, Huns, Avars, and Magyars, whose empires consisted of tribal federations which included various other ethnic groups: Indo-Europeans, as well as Uralic and Altaic peoples besides the dominant Turanian elements. It now seems that this Turanian ethno-linguistic group to which the Hungarians belong was a distinct group from which the Uralic and Altaic ethno-linguistic groups later evolved through a process of ethno-linguistic diffusion and hybridization. This explanation of the existing ethno-linguistic affinities between the Hungarians and the Uralic and Altaic groups would be more in line with the latest findings on this subject. In light of these findings, it would seem appropriate to re-examine this question objectively, avoiding the officially imposed ideological biases which have clouded the issue since the middle of the 19th c. and still continue to do so today.(Back)


NOTES

(1) Endrey Antal, A Magyarság eredete, Magyar Intézet, Melbourne, 1982, p. 14.

(2) Endrey, op. cit., p. 10.

(3) Endrey, op. cit., p. 26.

(4) Endrey, op. cit., p. 32.

(5) Biró József, A Szabirok Östörténete, Buenos Aires, 1986, p.12.

Götz László, Keleten Kél a Nap, Püski, Budapest, 1994, pp. 234, 291.

(6) Érdy Miklós, A Sumír, Ural-Altaji, Magyar rokonság kutatásának története, Gilgamesh, New York, 1974, p. 36.

Götz, op. cit., p. 700.

(7) Blaskovics József, A Magyarok története, II. Nagy Szittya Történelmi Világkongresszus, Cleveland, 1988, p. 13.

(8) Endrey, op. cit., p. 41.

(9) Endrey, op. cit., p. 41.

(10) Nagy Sándor, A Magyar nép kialakulásának története, Hidfö, San Francisco, 1987, p. 154.

(11) Götz, op. cit., pp. 56, 246.

(12) Endrey, op. cit., p. 44; Götz, op. cit., pp. 212-213.

(13) Baráth Tibor, The Early Hungarians, Barath Publications, Montreal, 1983, p. 2.

Nagy Sándor, The Forgotten Cradle of the Hungarian Culture, Patria, Toronto, 1973, p. 168.

Érdy, op. cit., p. 118.

Bobula Ida, Origin of the Hungarian Nation, Danubian Press, Astor, Fla., 1982, p. 7.

Endrey Antal, The Origin of Hungarians, Hawthorn Press, Melbourne, 1975, p. 30.

(14) Bobula, op. cit., p. 10.

(15) Baráth Tibor, Tajékoztató az újabb magyar östörténeti kutatásokról, Montreal, 1973, p. 27.

(16) Götz, op. cit., p. 268.

(17) Götz, op. cit., pp. 379, 398.

(18) Götz, op. cit., pp. 398-399.

(19) Götz, op. cit., p. 407.

(20) Götz, op. cit., pp. 311-312, 385.

(21) Götz, op. cit., pp. 222-223, 370-372.

(22) Götz, op. cit., pp. 406, 452.

(23) Endrey Antal, A Magyarság eredete, Magyar Intézet, Melbourne, 1982, p. 50.

Götz, op. cit., p. 398.

(24) Götz, op. cit., p. 450.

(25) Endrey, op. cit., p. 60.

(26) Götz, op. cit., p. 545.

(27) Érdy, op. cit., pp. 28, 60, 78.

Kramer, S. N., The Sumerians, University of Chicago Press, 1963, p. 306.

(28) Érdy, op. cit., p. 28.

(29) Érdy, op. cit., p. 118.

(30) Érdy, op. cit., p. 170.

(31) Götz, op. cit., p. 379.

(32) Götz, op. cit., pp. 375-379.

(33) Érdy, op. cit., pp. 64-68.

(34) Endrey, op. cit., pp. 78, 84.

(35) Endrey, op. cit., p. 92.

(36) Badiny, F. J., ed., The Sumerian Wonder, School of Oriental Studies, University of Salvador, Buenos Aires, 1974, pp. 114- 115.

(37) Oláh Béla, Édes magyar nyelvünk szumér eredete, Ösi Gyökér, Buenos Aires, 1980, p. 12.

(38) Götz, op. cit., p. 19.

(39) Götz, op. cit., p. 158.

(40) Paliga, S., "Thracian terms for 'township' and 'fortress', and related place-names", in: World Archeology, Vol. 19, No. 1, 1986, pp. 26-29.

(41) Haraszti, E., The Ethnic History of Transylvania, Danubian Press, Astor, Fla., 1971, p. 8.

Baráth Tibor, The Early Hungarians, Barath Publications, Montreal, 1983, p. 127.

(42) Childe, G. V., The Danube in Prehistory, Oxford University Press, London, 1929, p. 205.

(43) Ligeti Lajos, ed., A Magyarság östörténete, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1986, p. 105.

Hóman Bálint, Magyar történet, Maecenas, Budapest, 1990, Vol. 1, pp. 115-117.

(44) Ligeti, op. cit., p. 126.

(45) Padányi Viktor, Dentumagyaria, Editorial Transsylvania, Buenos Aires, 1963, pp. 323-324, 360-361.

(46) Padányi, op. cit., pp. 372-374.

(47) Vágó Pál, A Vérszerzödés ereje, Ösi Gyökér, Buenos Aires, 1976, p. 31.

(48) Pesti József, Két rádió-beszéde, Ösi Gyökér, Buenos Aires, 1980, p. 6.

Vágó, op. cit., p. 31.

(49) Padányi, op. cit., pp. 385-388.

(50) Badiny, F. J., Az Istenes Honfoglalók, Ösi Gyökér, Buenos Aires, 1986, p. 13.

Pesti József, Mit akartok az östörténettel?, Ösi Gyökér, Buenos Aires, 1982, p. 55.

(51) Götz, op. cit., p. 257.

(52) Childe, op. cit., pp. 109, 205.

Baráth, op. cit., pp. 131, 210.

(53) Nagy Sándor, A Magyar nép kialakulásának története, Hidfö, San Francisco, 1987, p. 98.

(54) Dienes István, A Honfoglaló Magyarok, Corvina, Budapest, 1978, pp. 68-72.

(55) Vágó, op. cit., p. 43.

(56) Padányi Viktor, Vérbulcsu, 1955, pp. 25-26.

(57) Vágó, op. cit., p. 40.

(58) Vágó, op. cit., pp. 56-57.

(59) Vágó, op. cit., p. 39.

(60) Vágó, op. cit., p. 66.

(61) Vágó, op. cit., p. 83.

(62) Országh József, Magyar Hit vagy szellemi nyomor, Ösi Gyökér, Buenos Aires, 1977, p. 22.

(63) Országh, op. cit., p. 12.

(64) Dienes, op. cit., p. 1.

(65) Badiny, op. cit., p. 24.

(66) Badiny, op. cit., p. 8.

(67) Badiny, op. cit., p. 8.

(68) Padányi Viktor, Dentumagyaria, Editorial Transsylvania, Buenos Aires, 1963, p. 54.

Badiny, op. cit., p. 11.

Nagy, op. cit., p. 230.

(69) (70) Götz, op. cit., pp. 216-217.

(71) Nagy, op. cit., p. 235.

(72) Országh, op. cit., p. 9.(Back)


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Zürichi Magyar Történelmi Egyesület, A 2. (Zürichi) Magyar Östörténeti Találkozó Elöadásai és Iratai, Zürich, 1993.

lauantai 15. toukokuuta 2021

William of Tripoli

 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tu8yubfzd7mf8li/AACsmHcx-TrDJt8ppelLmhmda/WilliamHinnebusch?dl=0


English Translation


s. 76

… he limited his 'Halter of the Jews' to the Jewish controversy, but directed his 'Dagger of Faith' against the Jews and Muslims. I also compile an Arabic dictionary. Ricoldo di Montecroce, who works in Mesopotamia and Syria, enriches Western thought in his Itinerary with a wealth of ethnic and religious information on the Tartars, Kurds, Sabeans, Jacobites, Flestorians and Muslims. He also wrote a 'Refutation of the Koran’. His five letters, sent after the fall of Acre in 1291, are a beautiful and unforgettable homage to the Dominican missionary ideal. William of Tripoli shows great tolerance and a spirit of conciliation in his study of Islam and this explains why he could boast of having baptized more than a thousand Muslims. Burchard's description of Mount Zion in his volume on the 'Holy Land', a veritable mine of news, was for three centuries the classic manual of the topography of Palestine and the Near East. The 'Itineraries' of Felice Fabri, who went as a pilgrim twice to the Near East in the late century, describes the Holy Land as a place for locals rather than missionaries. William Adam and Raymond Stephen's treatises on the Crusaders were not missionary books, but were intended to advance "the interests of the cross".


Mission fields


The friars preferred certain mission places to others. The French and Italian Dominicans sought the Near East and Asia; the French friars were mostly in Palestine in the thirteenth century. In the 14th century, the Italians were at the forefront of Mesopotamia and Persia. Every now and then some English, German or Spanish friars went to the East. After 1300, the desire to travel or the thirst for adventure, more than zeal, led some friars to join the Peregrinant Friars. The frontier provinces - Scandinavia, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Greece and Palestine - had primary duties to the mission territories that were within their borders. But from these outposts their friars and volunteers from other provinces leaped to mission land. The efforts of the Spanish, Scandinavian and Hungarian provinces mirror Dominic's zeal: he had sent the first men to Spain and Scandinavia. During his last days, the friars designated by the second general chapter left for Poland and Hungary. In 1225 other groups headed to Greece and the Holy Land, areas that the chapter of 1221 had indicated as future provinces.

The Spanish Dominicans struggled a lot among the Jews and Moors who lived in their country, beyond the southern frontier of the peninsula and in Africa. They entered Morocco before 1225 and Tunis before 1230.

Alexander IV revived interest in the mission of Tunisia when he asked for Dominican and Franciscan volunteers in 1254 and 1258. On his deathbed King Luigi IX chose Andrea Longjumeau, who had preached in Tunis, as the most suitable to lead the apostolate of preaching in Tunisia. Louis's crusade stopped missionary work for a while, but the subsequent treaty and trade agreements between Athelian cities and Tunis created more favorable conditions for evangelization. However, this was still very limited. James I of Aragon in 1242 he prescribed - apparently on the advice of Raymond of Penafort - that Jews and Moors were to be present at the sermons preached by bishops and friars. A similar line of conduct was resumed in 1263 at the insistence of Pablo Christiani, a Dominican converted from Judaism.


s.78

In southern Italy, the Order was commissioned, in 1233, to preach to the Saracen soldiers of the army of Frederick II.

The Scandinavian Dominicans not only worked to complete the Christianization of their country but also pushed east towards the pagan populations around the Baltic Sea. They entered Finland following the Swedish conquests in 1239. Ten years later they founded a convent in Åbo, which was still the only religious house in Finland more than 150 years later. The pope instructs the Dominicans to preach in central Europe, to enlist recruits and to raise funds for the crusade in Finland led by the Teutonic Knights. The treaty with the Finns provided for their co-conversion, but the laborious task required the co-operation of bishops, parish priests and friars. The Dominicans were assigned to three of the four founded bishoprics; the Order had such an influence that the Finnish dioceses adopted its liturgy.

The Polish friars worked hard in Kiev among the Russian Orthodox. Li Giacinto, who had introduced the Order in Poland, had founded a convent in 1222. Unfortunately, the history of the convents founded in Russia in the years between 1250 and 1260 is not known to us. Giacinto established a strategic point for the evangelization of Prussians, Lithuanians and Latvians when he opened a house in Gdansk (Danzig). The provinces of Poland and Germany played a prominent role in the organization of the Church of Lithuania, following the conversion of King Mindone. The premature death of the latter (and perhaps his apostasy in 1235) interrupted this missionary attempt for a century.

The Hungarian friars, after initial difficulties, made such progress in the conversion of the Cumans that Fra Teodoro was appointed their bishop in 1227 and was the first Dominican to be part of the hierarchy. The Tatar invasion of 1241 submerged the areas of the Cumans and Hungary. Ninety friars were killed and two convents set on fire. The Cumans were dispersed and only after the invasions did they return to their territory, promoting their missionary work again. In 1256, Umberto di Romans spoke of a great multitude of Cumans who had been converted, even though the work among them was not generally encouraging. In 1339, almost a hundred years later, most of the Cumans were still pagan.

The provincial of Hungary, John of Wildeshausen, participates in unsuccessful attempts to reunite the Bulgarians to the faith of Rome. His versatility appears from the ability he had to speak five languages ​​and from the offices he held. He was subsequently bishop of Bosnia (then resigned), provincial of Lombardy and master general.

The most difficult and most romantic undertaking of the Hungarian Dominicans was the search for the remains of their people who had remained in the primitive area called Greater Hungary in the middle Volga. The friars had read in the chronicles that part of the clan had migrated and part had remained behind "sunk in the error of disbelief". They knew that Greater Hungary was in the East but no one knew where. From 1232 to 1237 four groups set out in search. After enormous difficulties, only Fra Giuliano reached Great Hungary. The population received it with royal honors but when I return there a second time in 1237 it cost that the Tartars had overpowered them and saw that a mission work was impossible. Giuliano's reports, which describe this research, have an epic character due to the pure heroism they hand down and have a great value for the freshness of the news with which they speak of Russia and the Tartars.


s. 80

The Order also works in Albania where I found some convents. The Order's commitment in the 13th century in Russia remains shrouded in shadow: a foundation appears in Tiflis, Georgia, before 1238. The continuity of the work in the Near East is documented by the preaching and debates of Ricoldo di Montecroce among the Jacobites, Nestorians, Jews and Arabs in Mosul and Baghdad during the twelve years he was in Mesopotamia. In 1289 I met other Dominicans in Baghdad, where the Order had no homes.

In 1228 the Order founded provinces in Greece and the Holy Land. Both always remained small provinces with at most six or seven convents and suits and two saw their effectiveness as a missionary group destroyed by the action of the enemy already at the beginning of their existence. The Dominicans of the Greek province worked among Western Christians residing in the Latin Empire of Constantinople, in the colonies of Venice and among dissident Christians in Greece and its islands. When the Byzantine Empire was re-established in 1261, the Order lost the main convent in Constantinople and the remaining convents, except Candia, fell to the Turks who occupied Constantinople, in 1453. The province continued on Crete until the island fell under the Turks in 1669.


s. 81

The Dominicans of the Holy Land evangelized Western Christians and dissidents, Muslims and Jews, both in their territory and in the east. After the fall of Acre in 1291, the province continued to exist with three monasteries in Cyprus until the Turks conquered the island in 1571. Its friars reconciled several prelates of the separated Churches with Rome during the generalate of Jordan of Saxony and converted many Saracens.

The most lasting contribution of the friars to the union of the Greek and Latin Churches is probably to be found in the field of writings. Many of the friars who had personal contact with the Orientals, or scholars with other sources of information, published in the Middle Ages writings relating to the problems of the East. At the request of Urban IV, Thomas Aquinas interrupted the writing of the 'Summa contra gentiles' to write the 'Contra errores graecorum'. In the book he examined the procession of the Holy Spirit and the statements of the Greek Fathers on the subject.

Nicholas of Vicenza and William of Tripoli, who had done an excellent job in Palestine, lost the opportunity to achieve undying fame when Pope Gregory gave them letters for the Great Khan in Central Asia and sent them along with the Polo brothers. The nephew of these, Marco Polo, after spending many years in China, I return with a reputation that has never failed. In any case, the friars turned around shortly after their departure, frightened by the hostility of the sultan Bibars of Egypt.


s. 82

The Tartars of Asia and the Dominicans

The relationship between Dominicans and Tartars extended following a project by Innocent IV. Thinking of containing Muslims and perhaps helping them to accept Christianity more easily, the pope initiated a project to make an alliance with the Tartars in Asia and for their conversion. In 1245 I sent four embassies, two of Dominicans and two of Franciscans, to the Tartars of South and Central Asia. The Franciscans, led by Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, reached the Great Khan in Karakorum. The picturesque account of their travels written by Giovanni is well known. The Dominican groups made contact with the Tatar generals in Mesopotamia. Simon of San Quentin described the experiences of a Dominican group. The writing is included in the 'Speculum maius' of Vincent of Beauvais but does not stand up to comparison with the Franciscan account. Andrew of Longjumeau, who had headed one of the two groups, had just returned when Louis IX was sending him back to the Tartars. He reached the court in Karakorum.

Innocenzo's great projects lead to nothing. It testified to his missionary zeal, but assumed that the objectives and political situation of Asia coincided with those of Europe. Even if the goals of the Tartars and Innocent had been in harmony with each other, the practical obstacles to achieving them would have been insurmountable. The San Quentin account shows that at least one of Innocent's embassies was wholly devoid of diplomatic finesse when he inquired of the Tartar general as if he were a subject of the pope. The Dominican ambasassors were lucky to save their lives. In any case, the anger of the Tartars subsided and the long stay of the friars among them ended with more relaxed tones.

All kinds of missionaries worked in Asia. In 1254, returning from China, the Franciscan Guglielmo Ruba met two groups of Dominicans who were trying to enter the territory of the Tartars. In 1274 two Dominicans made their appearance, perhaps as interpreters, following a Tatar embassy to the Council of Lyons. In the 15th century, the Dominican archbishop in eastern Armenia John of Sultania met Tamerlane, the khan of the Tartars, and I lead an embassy to Europe on his behalf.


The congregation of the Peregrinating Friars

The missions of the Order came to a halt for some time after the Saracens conquered Acre in 1291 and closed the trade routes from Palestine. The friars could not travel to the East and were thus forced to leave the interior and settle in Cyprus. However, a new organization brought together the missionaries of the Order in the East.

Founded between 1300 and 1304, the Society of the Peregrinating Friars for Christ among the Infidels, later called the Congregation of the Peregrinating Friars, began to work from the outposts of the changing frontiers between Christianity, Islam and paganism. Rulers by a vicar general, according to statutes established by the master general Begengario of Landorra, the Peregrinanti had more agility than a province. They had no specific territory and recruited their men from what remained of the Order there. The congregation

he reached the peak of his activity around 1330, when he had missions in Tebizonda and Khios, and two in Turkey, Georgia, Turkestan, Persia and India. The Wanderers tried in vain to enter China. Before they were founded, Nicola da Pistoia left for China with the Franciscan Giovanni da Montecorvino, but died while he was predating in India. Montecorvino reached Perchino, where he founded a thriving mission. One of the Peregrinants, Guordano of Catalyni, founded a mission in Quilon in India, becoming its first bishop.

After Poland conquered Red Russia in 1340, the Polish friars founded convents in that area, but after a quarter of a century they aggregated them to the Peregrinant Friars.

The Black Death destroyed all the missions of the Peregrinanti except three: Pera, Kaffa and Prebizonda and forced the general chapter of 1363 to unite these houses to the province of Greece. Having recovered in 1373, the Peregrinanti evangelized in Russia, Poland, Lithuania and in the Danubian principalities of Molsavia, Wallachis and Tuthenia. The congregation was suppressed a second time (1456-1464) following the fall of Constantinople. Returned to life, lasted until 1857 (from 1603 with the name of the Congregation of the East and Constantinople). At this point the remaining houses were annexed to the province of Piedmont. In the house of Pera-Galata, on the outskirts of Istanbul, the Dominicans of Piedmont are currently engaged in Islamic studies.


s. 85

The United Friars of San Gregorio

Great Armenia (on the Black Sea in Iran) was one of the lands evangelized by the Peregrinating Friars. They supplied the bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Sultania in western Persioa, erected by John XXII in 1318. Their most striking success was the conversion of the oriental monks of Qrna in 1330. Only the abbot John Qrna, they adopted the Dominican liturgy, the Constitutions (except perpetual abstinence and absolute poverty) and the habit of the lay brothers (white cassock with black scapular and hood). Other monasteries taken joined Qrna. Under the leadership of the Dominicans, the Abbot John then constituted the United Friars of San Gregorio Illuminatore. Their purpose was to work, with preaching, teaching and writing, for the union of the Armenian and Latin Churches. Aided by Dominican translators, especially James Targman (the Translator), the Armenian friars translated the Dominican institutions and liturgical texts as well as many Western theological works, in particular those of Tomasso d'Aquino. When Innocent VI approved the United Friars in 1356, he placed them under the care and jurisdiction of the general master of the Dominicans. Their convents arose in Armenia, Georgia and Crimea.

During the last twenty-five years of the century, it seems that the United Friars had recruited seven hundred members who lived in fifty convents. If these cigars are real, they quickly declined after 1381, when zealous nationalists opposed the United Friars and began the new Tartar raids. When the Dominicans mitigated perpetual abstinence and absolute poverty, in the second half of the fifteenth...

Missionary activity to Finland

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tu8yubfzd7mf8li/AADlAHkgOKqklaQH7VqvdzPja/Damato/ENG_TRANSLATION?dl=0&preview=The_order_of_preaching_friars.pdf

1. Among the infidels and the schismatic peoples

Soon the friars preachers crossed the borders of Christian Europe and extended
their apostolic activity to the infidel peoples. In this way they realize the
living desire, which the Founder had not been able to satisfy."After we have
organized and formed our Order - Domenico had told Fra Paolo da Venezia - we
will go to the Cumans and preach to them the faith of Christ and we will win
them over to the Lord".

The first great expedition of missionaries takes place in 1221, in the general
chapter, with the Founder present. The chapter sends master Paul of Hungary,
prior of the Bolognese convent and professor of canon law, to Hungary together
with four brothers to praise the schismatics and the Cuman pagans.

Friar Solomon of Aarhus is sent to Denmark with some German friars. He brought
with him letters from Honorius III and Dominic for King Valdemar II and the
archbishop of Lund. The development of the Order in the Scandinavian countries
already allowed the foundation of a province in 1228. Friar Gliberto di Fresney
is sent to found the Order in England; while fra Giocinto Odrowaz with Henry of
Moravia was sent to Poland, where he founded the monasteries of Krakow (1223)
and Gdansk (1225) and carried out missionary activities among the pagans and
schismatics.

Immediately afterwards the preaching friars also went to Africa to win Muslims
to the faith. The Dominican mission in Tunis is very successful. Already in 1225
there is the first Dominican bishop in Morocco. Raimondo la Penafort, for some
years master general of the Order (1238-40), is remembered by contemporary
chronicles as an active "propagator of the faith among the Saracens".

The first preaching friars reserved particular attention to the schismatic
peoples of the Middle East. Perhaps the first missionaries were sent to Greece
as early as 1221. It is certain that already in 1228 lÓrdine underwent a notable
development in Greece and in the Holy Land, so much so as to justify the
foundation of a new province.

Leaving for mission territories is considered a privilege by the first preaching
friars. When the master Giordano of Saxony, in the general chapter, of 1230,
asks for missionaries for the Holy Land, all those present beg to be chosen
among the lucky ones. The same thing is repeated when Innocent IV asks the
provincial of France to send missionaries to the Tartars.

The activity carried out by the friars preachers among the peoples and the
clergy of the schismatic churches of the East is intense. Gregory IX in 1223
sent to Greece between Ugo and Fra Pietro di Sezana as his legates to negotiate
the question of union with the patriarch of the Greeks. Fra Filippo, provincial
of the Holy Land, in 1236, communicates to the Pontiff the successful conversion of the patriarch of the Eastern Jacobites, who has jurisdiction over seventy
provinces, from Persia to Armenia and to Chaldea; many old men and monks also
converted with him. Fra Filippo also communicates that, through the work of the
preaching friars, the Jacobite archbishop of Egypt and the Nestorian archbishop
of the East, whose jurisdiction extends from Syria to Phenicia, have returned to
the unity of the Roman Church.

Even among the schismatics of Russia the preaching friars soon achieved great
success. The same King Daniel asks Innocent IV to be able to keep two Domanicans with him in order to better educate himself in the faith (1246); he then returns to the Roman Church followed by various bishops and princes of the kingdom (1247).

The address of a letter with which Innocent IV grants various privileges to the
Dominican missionaries of the East and gives an idea of the breadth of the field
of action of these missionaries in 1253. The latter is in fact directed "to the
friars missionary preachers in the countries of the Saracens, the pagans, the
Greeks, the Bulgarians, the Cumans, the Ethiopians, the Syrians, the Iberians,
the Alans, the Gazarenes, the Goths, the Lycocians, the Ruthenians, the
Jacobites, the inhabitants of the Nile, the Georgians, of the Armenians,
Indians, Mossulotti, Tartars, Hungarians, and other unfaithful peoples of the
East and of any other region " (23 July 1253).

The missionary problem is practically felt by the master Umberto de Romans.
"Among the many desires of my soul - he wrote in a letter addressed to the whole
Order, in 1255 - this is not small: that, through the ministry of our Order, the
schismatics return to the unity of the Church and the name of Jesus Christ is
brought among the Jewish peoples, the Saracens, the pagans, the barbarians and
all peoples ". He then exhorts the friars to learn languages and asks for
volunteers, ready to leave for the territories, which border on the infidel
peoples, and "willing to endure any suffering for the faith". The invitation was
accepted by such a large number of religious that "it is not possible to send
them all".

The copious fruits collected by the friars preachers in the territories of the
Mission are remembered by the same master Umberto in a letter sent to the whole Order in 1256. After having expressed his joy for the great fervor and
generosity of the friars, who from the various provinces have answered his
invitation to leave as missionaries, he is pleased with the successes achieved
in the last two years. "Very many Cumans - he writes - have been baptized; the
Maronites, schismatics for a long time, have handed their books to our friars,
so that they may correct them in their judgment. We receive excellent news from
the friars who evangelize the Tartars. Authorities and admirable virtues, who
for more than 18 years have endured a very hard life among the Georgians, write
us letters full of charity and zeal... In Spain many Saracens have received
baptism. Many Prutenians have also abandoned pagnanism and they received the
grace of baptism ".

Naturally these abundant fruits are collected by the preaching friars not
without great sacrifices and, at times, not without bloodshed. In the same
letter Umberto de Romans communicates to the Order that in that year (1256) two friars had been killed for the faith by the pagans and two others had been
beheaded by the Saracens in the Holy Land.

2. Specialized schools for missionaries

The particular difficulties that the friars encounter in evancelizing non-
Christian populations soon make them feel the need to create specialized study
centers for the formation of religious who will have to dedicate themselves to
this apostolate. Above all, the study of languages is considered indispensable
in order to effectively exercise the apostolic ministry. Latin has now become
the language of the learned; national languages are developing. Their knowledge is a duty for those who wish to bring the Gospel message to all peoples. In all
convents the religious learn the langue of neighboring countries. As of this
date, special oriental language courses have already been established in the
province of the Holy Land.

Promoters of this cultural movement, in the Order, are particularly Raimondo da
Penafort and Umberto de Romans, zeal is enough, it is necessary to know the
language and everything that can manifest the mentality of the populations to be
converted. It is therefore necessary to create study centers in which special
courses are organized for the specific preparation of missionaries.

"Although it is necessary to deal with everything that refers to the salvation
of souls - scribe Umberto de Romans - it is necessary to dedicate oneself with
particular zeal to the pagan populations, the Saracens, the Jews, the heretics,
the schismatics and all those peoples who are outside the Church , so that with
our work and our concern they can set out on the path of safety. For this
reason, there must always be negotiations in the Order against their errors, so
that our friars have the necessary competence; it is also necessary that some
meadows more able to devote themselves to the study of Arabic, Hebrew, Greek and Barabara languages in specialized centers for these studies ".

Raimondo da Penafort, after having resigned as master general (1240), devoted
himself particularly to missionary problems. He is above all concerned with the
problem of the conversion of Muslims and Jews. At his suggestion, Tommaso
d’Aquino wrote the ‘Summa contra gentes’. Raimondo plans to create a center in
Africa for the knowledge of Arabs and their language. Tunis seems to him the
ideal city. A large commercial center, Tunis is also the liveliest intellectual
center in Africa. The Dominicans have been there since 1230. In 1250 Raimondo
founded a 'Studium arabicum' for the training of missionaries destined for the
Arab populations. Raymond Martin, a profound connoisseur of the Arab and Jewish world, is also part of the group of founding friars of the 'Studium'. Raimondo da Penafort was also responsible for the foundation of a center for knowledge of the world and oriental languages in Murcia in Spain.

These schools soon become centers of conversions as well. Maestro Umberto
himself, in a letter of 1256 addressed to the whole Order, is pleased with the
activity of the Arabic schools and the many conversions of Saracens. Alexander
IV is also interested in the mission of Tunis and orders the provincial of Spain
to send other missionaries there (June 27, 1256). Raimondo da Penafort, in 1258,
communicated to the Pontiff the successes of this mission and the pope confirmed
that he could send other missionaries there (July 15, 1258).

Other schools of culture and Arabic language are later founded in Spain, where
Dominicans are more easily in contact with Muslims. Arabic and Hebrew schools
are established in Barcellano, Valenza and Jativa. A school of oriental
languages was also founded in Caffa, an important Genoese colony, which soon
became one of the main centers of the Dominican Missions in the East.

3. The pilgrim friars and the Armenian congregation

At the beginning of 1300, the Dominican mission in the East took on such a
development that it is believed appropriate to give it autonomy. Thus was born
the 'Society of the pilgrim friars for Christ', which includes friars from
various provinces, under the guidance of a vicar general directly dependent on
the master of the Order. The missionary encirclement embraces a vast territory;
extends his apostolic activity to the countries that go from Poland to India.
Convents are founded in Turkey, Persia, Georgia, Armenia, India.

Particular development has the congregation in Armenia and Persia. There are
many conversions. Pope John XII himself congratulates the Master of the Order
for these successes.

When, for apostolic progress, the hierarchy was established in these regions
(April 1318), the six bishops' see and the archbishopric of Sulthanyen were
entrusted to the preaching friars. The first archbishop of this city is Franco
da Perugia, vicar general of the missionary congregation. Later, for more than a
century this episcopal chair will be entrusted to a Dominican. The six suffragan
seats will also have Dominican bishops for many years: a sign of the active
presence of Dominican missionaries in the region.

The conversion of many Armenian monks is due to pilgrim friars and in particular
to Fra Bartolomeo del Poggio, who went down in history as the apostle of the
Armenians. In 1330 Fra Bartolomeo converts the monk John of Kerna, who, in turn, becomes an apostle of the union. Soon many monks and entire monasteries are converted. Under the leadership of Abbot John, these converted monks undertake to bring the Armenian nation back to the unity of the Roman Church. Thus a new congregation of indigenous religious missionaries was born. In collaboration with these monks, the preaching friars translated numerous theological works of the Latins into Armenian, including the works of St. Thomas.

Enthusiastic about the ideal of St. Dominic, these monks adopt the Constitutions
and the liturgy of the preaching friars, wear the habit of the tertiaries and
ask to be aggregated to the Order (1340). Their deviation towards the Dominicans
is clearly expressed in a letter which Friar John of Kerna, having become head
of the congregation, addresses to his monks. "Since the friars preachers of St.
Dominic - he writes - are the authors of our conversion to the true faith and of
our monastic reform, and for this reason our congregation is founded on their
Ordine, we want the said friars to be gods for us fathers, founders and teachers
and may our Order pay them the greatest honors. We want nothing to be done with us, except after having listened to their advice and their decision. No general
chapter will be celebrated by us without the their intervention. We will do
everything possible to have some of them in each of our monasteries and that
they have the first place, since our fathers are healthy".

The presence of at least one Dominican in each monastery prepares the definitive
merger of the congregation with the Order. After a few years, Innocent VI
approved (January 31, 1356) the new missionary congregation and placed it under
the jurisdiction of the general master of the Dominicans. However, only in 1582
the general chapter definitively incorporated it into the Order.

Due to its Armenian and schismatic origin, this Dominican missionary
congregation makes a particular effort to bring the schismatic populations back
to the unity of faith and greatly contributes to the definitive return of the
Armenian church within the Roman Church.


Al-Idrisi: Arabic travel diary

 


Rivista Di Araldica -- The Evangelization of Finland

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tu8yubfzd7mf8li/AABooHx1prdjepTrZ9JKlsIka/DiAnna

Nobility

Heraldry, Genealogy,

Knightly Orders

Asociacion de Hidalgod in Fuero de Espana Junta de Italia

Italian Genealogical Heraldic Institute

Federation of the Italian Associations of Genealogy, Family History, Heraldry and Documentary

Sciences

Angelica Rom library

MAY-AUGUST 2006

Milan

Number 72-73


Page 1

The crusades are a phenomenon which, as is well known, affects not only the Holy Land, but also the Baltic. The expeditions of the Sword and Teutonic Knights, and their Danish and Swedish allies, against the still pagan populations of northeastern Europe revived the glories and horrors of the Christian holy war far from the East. This activity of territorial conquest by northern potentates and expansion stimulated by the Church of Rome also affects distant Finlan. It is thanks to evangelization that Finland can also become part of Catholic universality, breaking the isolation to which it had been forced for centuries. In fact, until the 12th century Finland was a land unknown to the Latin West. His name does not appear in travel narratives as it is absent from cartography

PAGE 2

The first mention of this people, which appeared in Tacitus' Germany in the form of Fenni towards the end of the 1st century AD. and repeated in later Greek language sources under that of Scritifinni (ie Finni skiers) has been forgotten. Moreover, the Finns of the ancient-medieval sources are not even identifiable with certainty with the Suomalaiset (self-denomination of the Finno-Ugric-speaking people who emigrated to Finland at the end of the last glaciation) but rather are to be recognized in the Lapps or Sami, and for many centuries Finn-land or Finn-mark will indicate the land of the nomads of the tundra. Due to its distance from the main centers where the history of the High Middle Ages was being reforged, Finland, covered with impenetrable forests and thousands of lakes, remained practically unknown to southern geography and only thanks to an Arab cartographer of Roger II of Altavilla will begin to know something about it, albeit in an imprecise and almost legendary way. Thanks to al-Shafiri al Idrisi (1100-1165), known in the West as Idrisi or Edrisi, medieval cartography makes a decisive progress in relation to both the method of investigation and the graphic realization. In fact, Idrisi, on the advice of Roger II, Norman king of Sicily between 1129-1154, collects updated data on the geography of the world known until then, without limiting itself to the Mediterranean, but going beyond its borders to extend the survey also to the Nordic countries. and Slavs.

Idrisi questioned merchants, missionaries, sailors who had visited the various provinces of Orbis and compared their stories to then choose the version that most likely corresponded to reality. The text was written in Arabic (unfortunately Rugger II, who had commissioned the work, did not have time to have it translated into Latin) and was accompanied by a geographical map, which was very different from the model of contemporary maps, called TO, which often they had no reference to actual reality, having become bad copies of Ptolemaic fashions. Idrisi was born in Ceuta in the Moroccan princely family of the Idrisidi and had studied in Cordoba. For political reasons if he had to take refuge at the Norman court of Palermo, becoming a renegade in the eyes of his co-religionists. To satisfy the curiosity Roger II

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he began to draw up a geographical work that will be known as Il Libro ri Ruggero, which today we would more faithfully call the Guide of the Known World, accompanied by an atlas engraved in silver plates (it took 150kg) unfortunately gone missing. A not always reliable translation into French of the book was made by A. Jaubert in 1840. The critical echezinne was edited by a team from the Eastern University of Naples. D'atlante was published in 1926 by K. Miller. The fundamental problem of the text remains its paleographic reading in fact the names of places, especially when referring to Northern Europe, are difficult to interpret. This is due to the peculiarities of the Arabic alphabet, which does not easily lend itself to the transcription of foreign names, since it practically only contains the consonants that make up a word. As for Scandinavia, described in the chapter dedicated to the VII Climate, that is the northernmost belt according to the Ptolemaic division, Idrisi knows some places in Norway but not Sweden. As for Finland, the discussion is still open. Finnish historians have identified some localities (Abraza, which would be Turku, Rangwalda which would be Pori and Kaland which would be Kalanti), but their opinion is shared by all scholars.

Finland had probably been described by Adam of Berma, a German chronicler of the second half of the 11th century, as the Land of Amazons, but also of monsters and feral creatures, behind which, however, cultural specificities were hidden that led back to shamanism, whose priests used to dress in the guise of bears and reindeer. Finland becomes an alter orbis for the medieval imaginary. After all, the periphery of Europe and in Antiquity and in the Middle Ages, and even beyond, the area not only of the geographical mystery as an unexplored land, but also the seat of those physical and moral alterities (the monsters, the Amazons) that

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populate a logocentric culture linked to the concept of the superiority of the Mediterranean civilization first and then Christian. After all, the persistence of paganism in north-eastern Europe undoubtedly reinforces this image of the other world, which is such and not only for the extraordinary phenomena that characterize it (the "burning" ice of Icelandic volcanoes, the whirlpools or maelström of 'North Atlantic, the days without night of the high latitudes), but also because paganism continues to thrive in it, which, after the year 1000, is perceived not only as a form of religious life different from the Greek-Latin one, but essentially as a threat to our own civilization. In reality, obviously the Baltic crusade that arises as a natural filiation from this way of looking at non-Christianized peoples will not only be the confrontation between two religious forms, but also the extreme thrust of a territorial and political evolution that brings Teutons, Swedes, the Danes and Russians of Novgorod to seek a wider space, religious, political and economic, precisely at the expense of these unconverted populations.

When it takes place, the conversion of the pagans will strengthen the nascent Scandinavian monarchies and enrich them with territories, but also with excellent soldiers and useful tax payers. And since history still gives us the key to reading and also the explanation of modern phenomena, it will be precisely this pincer advance between west and east that sees Scandinavian and Slavic Christians clash with the northeastern Baltic peoples, the roots of the sentiment of aversion that the latter, who have become modern nations, will continue to feel for the German and Russian world. The difficulty that Finns, Estornians, Lithuanians, Latvians and Poles have today to accept a coexistence with Russia without seeing it as the usual enemy therefore has its ancient origins in these long years of bloody wars. Equally ancient is the suspicion and lack of trust that these peoples have towards the Germans, to whom, however, for constant reasons, in years closer to us they have had to ally themselves. Finally, it would be excessive to say that the hockey final at the Turin Olympics between Finland and Sweden and the strong emotional wave it aroused in these countries, is the last beach of a wave that comes from afar, but sure and that when the Finnish looks west, even if for contingent reasons, he does not feel a movement of particular sympathy. After all, all this is natural in fact Finns, Estonians, Lithuanians and Latvians, not the backbone of powerful and proud nations, have a strong cultural identity, which cannot be confused with the German- Scandinavian or the Russian-Slavic identity.


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Even in northern Europe, therefore, the introduction of faith served to create new social structures, strengthening the monarchical power of countries that had recently entered the historical scene. This support was combined with the apostolic fervor of the missionaries and the first bishops, stimulated by the Holy Sede who, through the evangelization movement, saw the boundaries of Christianity widening and, at the same time, of its influence towards the northern kingdoms. The push towards the North also had the function to compensate for the mutilation suffered in the South due to the invasion of arabs in fact one of the elements that came to constitute the ideal that consists the reconquest of what had been lost, was applied to the North, where it was he could regain what was lost in the Near East. Of course, more than a territorial recovery it was a conquest and the loot was inviting. The Baltic territories represented in fact the possibility for an improper feudalism to replenish their wealth and for the cadet children of families linked to the majority to create an attractive future, but they were also the places of considerable wealth in terms of natural goods, such as furs, wood, tar, wax, dried fish, metals for forging weapons, amber even slaves

The Baltic crusade was anticipated by the slow insinuation of Christianity. Known are the episodes of mass baptisms that preceded the actual conversion, the result of victories achieved not in the field of Faith but on that of battle. The policy of the "religion of one's king" (cuius rex eius religio) had quickly paved the way for the evangelization of the Scandinavian peoples. Of course, the king looked to political convenience, and he cared little about having to renounce the ancient gods if the prize was the promotion of his own monarchy and dominion first within his own country and then outside it. But, as we said, in addition to the conversion brought to the point of the sword, there is also a process of evangelization of "long times". This is particularly evident in Finland. As we will see shortly, that of the first Finnish crusade (mid-twelfth century) is actually a propaganda invention, in fact Finland sees the first representatives of Christianity disembark on its shores not from warships, but from peaceful merchant boats. It was in fact trade that brought the first Christian communities to the northern shores of the Baltic, even before the Church of Rome settled there with its own bishops and convents. These Christian merchants come from Sweden and Germany. As has always happened, between the two blocks there is what the Arabs called the house of the truce, that is, a band where the two potential opponents meet

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to trade, get to know each other, build rather than destroy. This area of encounter between the German-Scandinavian and pagan Christian world goes to Finland located on the southwestern coast of the country (today's Satakunta and Varsinais-Suomi), while that of contact between Orthodox Slavs and Karelian pagans is located in the area of modern Viipuri, and that is in the Isthmus of Karelia

The House of the truce is however, by its very definition, a place of transitory reality, in fact in a second phase the real conversion takes place and it needs other, more hasty means to be effective. And this not only because the pagans reveal themselves more interested in the exchange of goods than in the word of the Gospel, but also because from the east the nascent power of Novgorod is advancing with the same be the sole responsibility of Latin-Scandinavian. The complexity of the situation is also revealed in the unexpected resistance of paganism even if it is subdued. In fact, battles can be won, tribal leaders baptized, or their heads cut off if the water of baptism cannot be poured on it, but paganism will not completely disappear. It is enough to read the great Finnish epics of the Kalevala and the Kalevipoeg, albeit recreated in the nineteenth century by not always faithful collectors, to realize that the Finnish world, which extends to the two shores of the Gulf of Finland, has preserved for a very long time the distinctive signs of paganism and especially of that shamanic religion which certainly represents the most ancient form of human religiosity. To proceed with the work of evangelization, however, it is necessary to have a coordinating center, which cannot be geographically too far from the regions concerned. The evangelization of Scandinavia and the Baltic lands had originally found its driving force in the archbishopric of Hamburg-Bremen to which the figure of Ansagarius (first half of the 9th century), the "apostle to the North" is linked. The attempts made by the bishops of Hamburg-Bremen to introduce Christianity were directed, given the dynastic connections, not only to Denmark and Sweden, but also to Norway whose evangelization had begun with Olav Trygvasson (995-1000), but already Hakon the Good , who died in 960, had embraced the new faith. Between 1016 and 1082 Norway was definitively Christianized thanks to Olao the Saint, who however had to accept the existence of pockets of pagan resistance. Around the year 1000 Christianity, through Norway, also reached distant Iceland; hence its influence extended to Greenland, which became the northernmost outpost of the Church.

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Thanks to the new faith and this Arctic presence, it could even have managed to make a fleeting apparition on American soil, where Bishop Eirik, in 1121, would have gone according to the Icelandic Annals in search of the communities that the Vikings had left in Vinland. This has led to the supposition that the papacy was interested in keeping a Christian presence alive in those territories, a theory that does not enjoy any documentary or archaeological support. It is however true that the pontiff intervened on several occasions in favor of the last Scandinavians of Greenland, now condemned, we are at the end of the fifteenth century, to extinction due to the isolation of the colony.

It is now opportune to turn further south and trace a synthesis of the process leading to the evangelization of Finland which is in any case to be related to that of the northeastern Baltic area. We will take first in pagan times, but also later, they had been particularly close. The introduction of Christianity in Estonia dates back to the 13th century; the first to have tried to sow the seeds of conversion were the bishop Meinardo and the Cristercian abbot Bertoldo of Loccum, but the results of the mission had remained limited. The Church thus resorted to more convincing means and Albert of Buxhövden, canon of Bremen, founder of Riga in 1201 and the first to be invested with this bishopric, instituted in 1202 the order of the Fratres Militiae Christi, known as Knights Swordholders, inspired by the model represented by the Templars. Thus began the crusades against the Baltic pagans, financed by the Hanseatic merchants, interested in eliminating not only the danger of the Estonian pirates but above all in entering the new territories rich in economic prospects. The conquest of the Germanic Knights was however bitterly opposed, so much so that they had to ask for the help of Valdemaro II of Denmark. Between 1224 and 1227 Danes and Knights had however definitively subdued the country, which was divided among the conquerors. In 1237 the swordtails, almost annihilated the previous year by the Lithuanians, were absorbed by the Order of the Knights of Santa Maria Teutonica, born in Palestine and then destined to spread the Faith in the pagan territories of Prussia, where it kept its headquarters. They installed their own vassals and representatives in Estonia, whose government was unpopular as to provoke continuous revolts, all repressed in blood. After the departure of the Danes, the Teutonic Order became in the second half of the fourteenth century the only master of Estonia whose inhabitants had been reduced to the rank of serfs. The driving force of the Church's centralization was the territory called Livonia,

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the bishopric of Riga in Latvia and the southern part of present-day Estonia; the Christian advance was however severely opposed by the Estonians. This resistance appears fierce to Henry the Latvian, the author of the most written source in 1225 with the aim of recording the events of the Baltic Evengelization (from 1184 to 1227), and has become the most important document in medieval Baltic history. Endeo, an eyewitness, describes when it happened in Livonia on the occasion of the Crusade contra paganos, that is, the offensive against the Estonians, the Livonians, the Latvians, the Semigalli, the Curons, the Vendas, the Lithuanians. The Chronicle deals with the actions of the first Baltic bishops, among which Albert of Buxhövden stands out. Henry reports the narration of the founding of Riga and informs us about the birth of the Order of the Sword-Bladed Knights, whose task was to Christianize Estonia. Henry, however, also speaks of the diplomatic relations between the Baltic potentates and Rome, held above all through the papal legate William of Modena. We know very little about Enrico. In all likelihood he was not Latvian, as in the past, but a German who had accompanied Albert of Buxhövden to Latvia. According to others, he is instead Saxon. Henry probably arrived in Latvia when he was 18 years old. Here he undertook some trips, always on behalf of the ecclesiastical organization, which he too, in 1215, would take him to Rome to assist the interpreter, an expert on the places. Henry is the typical representative of the religious who also had to be involved in warfare, in fact, in the opinion of historians, his expertise in warfare techniques and military matters is remarkable. He was, as Piero Bugiani recalls, a fighter for the cause of the Lord, who used the weapons of the word as that of metal.

We focused on this aspect of the Christianization of Estonia because the points of reference to Finland are stimulating. Points of reference, in this case, by contrast, given that the events of the Baltic evengelization highlight the different development that it covers in southwestern Finland. By the turn of the millennium, the descendants of the Proto-Finni had settled in a rather small area.

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of southwestern Finland and the Isthmus of Karelia. From here, in the following centuries, going up the rivers and using the vast lake system, they expanded to the north and east, preferring however the coastal territories to those of the interior, covered with forests and swamps. However, nuclei of non-indigenous peoples had long since established along the Finnish shores of the eastern Baltic, whose contribution to the development of Finnish society was decisive, both in economic and cultural terms. At the end of the pagan era Finland comprises three main inhabited areas: in the southwest are the Suomalaiset, while in the western lakes region the Hämäläiset settled who also controlled, although they did not keep permanent colonies, a part of the northern coast of the Gulf Finland, where they practiced fishing and traded with the frequenters of the east bank. In the eastern region of the lakes the Savolaiset had instead entered, while further east the presence of the Karjalaiset had established themselves, whose main centers were located along the western bank of the Ladoga

In Finland there is no real popular resistance to the introduction of Christianity, even if the legend of Lalli, based on a late medieval poem that tells of the killing of the first bishop of Finland, Henry by a peasant, may actually refer to a real episode of resistance to the settlement of the Church in the territory. St. Henry is believed to be the apostle of Finland. He was of English origin (England played an important role in the early days of Scandinavian evangelization), and was appointed bishop of Uppsala in 1152. According to tradition, I accompany the King of Sweden Erik in the first crusade against the pagan Finns in the summer of 1155. Remained in the Varsinais-Suomi region, he became its first bishop. Also according to the hagiographic tradition, Henry was murdered in 1156 by a farmer named Lalli on the ice of Lake Köyliö. If this really happened, it was probably as a form of reaction to the imposition of taxes and the Christian-Svedesem government, hated by the indigenous population. The cult of the saint began to assert itself in Finland towards the end of the thirteenth century, enjoying considerable favor among the population. The day of his death was also celebrated with a fair, which is still held in the city of Turku. Also in the same century a long poem was composed which commemorated his martyrdom, The ballad for the death of Bishop Henry. The saint's body was buried in Nousiainen, from where the relics were transferred to the Turku catterdale towards the end of the 13th century. A few years ago a metacarpal bone was given by the National Museum of Helsinki in custody to the church of St. Henry of

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Helsinki, the Catholic catterdale of Finland, but this has aroused the protest of the Lutheran Church which is now demanding its return. However, according to the Finnish historian Tuomas Heikkilä, who recently dealt with it, St. Henry never existed and should therefore be counted among the "propaganda" saints of the Church of Rome. In fact we do not have any contemporary documentation on Henry, but we only begin to talk about him starting from 1270-1280, that is a hundred years after the alleged martyrdom. In any case, the evangelization of Finland is traced back to St. Henry, which in any case was already underway in the southern region of Varsinais-Suomi, where Christian communities that arrived before the arrival of King Erik of Sweden and St. Henry were operating. . The inhabitants of this region allowed themselves to be subdued, but not even the other Finnic populations of the still free territory opposed the Christian penetration as resistance as that of the Estonians.

To explain this diversity of reaction we must compare the extent of the ideological impulse that moved the Swedes with that which animated the Germanic Knights. Undoubtedly, the knightly and Crusader ideal also operated within the Swedish feudal society, but not to the extent that it was present in the German one, nor did the Drang nach Osten that moved the Swedes cover those characteristics of merciless, cold determination and sacrifice. which he had with the Germanic knightly orders. Moreover, the monks-knights did not arrive in Finland, this example of a fusion of spiritual ardor and war efficiency, nor did the Swedish nobility have the thirst and need for new lands as the German one did.

In conclusion, in Finland, contrary to what happened in Estonia, there was no rift between losers and winners; the ruling class was, of course, of Swedish origin, but over time it also opted for Finnish elements, who became nobles, clerics and even bishops. Finally, the right to land ownership was not taken away from the Finns and, above all, their dignity was not harmed as had been done in Livonia, whose inhabitants were simply called non-Germans, which basically amounted to non-men. In Finland, therefore, on the edge of the virgin lands, a line of fortifications did not arise such as the one that in 1290, running between Dunaburg and Memel, separated the Christianized part in Lithuania from that to the south where the remaining pagan tribes lived. Of it, as the rhymer of the Teutonic Order had written, no warrior had to, from the top of those towers, say: Look at my works, O mighty one, and despair.


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As for Sweden, the first king to be baptized was Olaf Skutkonung, of the Uppsala dynasty, in 1008. Sweden initially returned to the Hamburg-Bremen sphere of intervention, but the bishopric of Lund was founded around 1103. Thus was marked the definitive decline of the influence of Hamburg which the pope, given the ties that the German episcopate had with the emperor, had every interest to reduce. However, Lund only obtained definitive recognition as a spiritual guide for the whole of Scandinavia in 1139.

In 1164 the episcopate of Uppsala was established, which gave further impetus to the evangelizing thrust, stimulated by ecclesiastics of English origin, in turn representatives of a missionary Church of ancient tradition, which will play a very important role in Finland as well.

When Erik Jedvadsson was elected to the Swedish throne in 1157, more favorable moments began to be envisaged for an offensive by the crown to the east, facilitated by the simultaneous crisis of the Danish one. However, it was the papacy in the person of Alexander III to stimulate Erik in this enterprise, with which the king intended to increase his authority within Sweden. In order to be able to carry out both this religious and political task, the Church introduced in the North, within the framework of a broader plan, the concept of crusade, whose application to regions populated by pagan and / or schismatic peoples, i.e. of Orthodox faith, represents an evolution, or an involution, of the religious and spiritual movement which had promoted, under Urban II, the first crusade against Muslim infidels.

The spirit of the crusade soon influenced the Saxon nobles, who in 1147 at the Reichstag in Frankfurt, present Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, asked to be authorized to wage war against the Slavs who were pressing on their eastern borders. The pope therefore, on April 13, 1147, with the Divine Bull dispensation, granted Christians of northern Europe to carry the cross against the pagans who threatened the northern border of Christianity. According to Bernard, in fact, the crusade was qualified not for where the milites went, but for the purposes he intended to achieve.

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This application of the concept of crusade is therefore the ideological component that underlies the Swedish intervention in Finland

Scholars do not agree on the exact dating of the so-called first crusade led by King Erik of Sweden and Henry bishop of Uppsala, which should however be placed between 1150 and 1160, they agree in identifying the exact place of Finland southwest where the Swedish troops would land. To all intents and purposes today the opinion has emerged that this crusade never took place, but that it was a propaganda invention, with which the Swedish taking possession of Finland was equated with what had happened in the other Baltic territories.

However, it is true that Christian Sweden had for some time looked with interest at the coastal territories of Finland, where groups of Swedish settlers who already practiced Christian cults had settled.

This infiltration, which lasted over time, had therefore prepared the ground for a clash between a Christian Sweden and a pagan Finland and consequently to be considered a legend, or rather, Crusader propaganda, probably born on the basis of the Vita Sancti Erici, in the which tells of the peace offer made by King Erik and Bishop Henry, rejected by the indigenous population who did not intend to accept the new faith

Swedish expansion into Finland is taking place gradually. In the aftermath of the so-called first crusade, the control of Sweden is mainly based on relations of maritime subjection, but between the end of the twelfth century and the beginning of the thirteenth century this presence takes on a more stable character, being built a military premise for the second phase of penetration that in the thirteenth century is directed towards the region of Häme, in the interior, whose inhabitants continued to oppose evangelization.

The progress of the new faith after the first half of the 12th century was rapid and southwestern Finland aligned itself with the model of Scandinavian Christian societies

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The consolidation of the religious and administrative ties of Finland with Sweden began at the end of the 12th century; only a part of the territory of modern Finland, however, was part of the kingdom of Sweden, whose dominion extended to the coastal regions. The rest of the country, however sparsely populated, was still "terra infidelium" and consequently destined to be areas of conquest and mission.

In the course of this second phase of expansion the spirit of the crusade is definitively affirmed and the Nordic chivalric society, already mobilized for the penetration in Estonia, begins to apply the same principle in Finland, but fortunately for the inhabitants not the same methods, of conquest military of the still pagan Baltic territories. This new, more enterprising action of the Church, manifested itself with the bishop Thomas, coming from Uppsala but of English origin, who around 1218-1220, was placed by Innocenzo III at the head of the Finnish ecclesiastical hierarchy, which however remained under the direct Roman control. In all probability it was Thomas himself who inspired the wide-ranging policy that led to the military expedition in Häme, animated, yes, by a true spirit of crusade

In 1237 Pope Gregory IX had been informed that the Hämäläiset had rejected Christianity, consequently he summoned all Christians to join in a crusade against the irreducible pagans. The behavior of the inhabitants of Häme was therefore different from that followed by the neighbors of Varsinais-Suomi.

The reluctance to submit can be explained by considering how, unlike the southwestern regions, Christianity had not penetrated Häme except to a limited extent. This people also had to have a clearer understanding of the dangers represented by the arrival of foreigners who in the early years of the thirteenth century had already colonized and swedish other lands.

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Tomasso was also the architect, if not the creator of the oriental policy aimed at containing the danger represented by Novgorod, an unsuccessful plan, given that the Crusaders were defeated in 1240.

The church of Rome and the Swedish crown had in fact decided to resort to force to definitively resolve the "Finland problem", which consisted of the pressure exerted by the pagans of Häme and, at the same time, by the Russian threat. The initial success of the Finnish-Swedish Church had been frustrated nonetheless. Tommaso, who in the meantime had moved his seat from Nousiainen to Turku, felt it was his duty to renounce the position he held and in 1245 he retired from the scene.

His work had proved useful in the phase that we can define as "heroic" of Christianization, but now other methods and above all a better organization of missionary politics were needed. Therefore, first of all it was necessary to strengthen the existing link with the Swedish monarchy and convince it to play a more active role in the military field, while in the missionary field the Domini canes, the guardians, if not the mastiffs, of the Catholic Church were used.

On the other hand, Sweden's management of the war campaigns does not involve the need to resort to the Germanic Knights and this avoids the Church from a cumbersome ally and consequently made possible a less problematic amalgamation between the indigenous population and foreigners. Finland was now emerging as a nation.